1. Field of the Invention
The subject matter described herein relates generally to scenery for entertainment and amusement and, more particularly, to devices and methods for transforming or altering scenery.
2. Related Art
To provide high entertainment value for today's sophisticated customer, themed entertainment venues, such as theme parks and amusement parks, include a variety of live action outdoor shows and theatrical productions throughout the venue. Many of these shows and productions include scenery that undergoes a transformation or substantial change during the action. For example, some shows and productions include a substantial number of action scenes such as car chases, gunfights and the like. During these action scenes, occasionally it is necessary to create an illusion of damage to individual items or equipment of the scenery. For entertainment venues, where the same event must be repeated many times during a day, it is not cost effective or practical to actually physically destroy or damage the scenery.
Currently, various techniques for creating an illusion of damage to scenery are employed. In one, a mechanical device uses pneumatically or hydraulically powered, mechanical linkages to create such an illusion. One such mechanical device is shown in practice at Universal Studios Florida “Earthquake” attraction. At this attraction, mechanical linkages change seemingly undamaged vehicles and objects into damaged ones during a simulated earthquake. This is accomplished by using mechanical linkages connected to various locations on one particular item of scenery, such as a lamppost or an oil tanker. To create a damaged condition, the mechanical linkages physically separate the item into various seemingly “broken” components.
Another way to create such an illusion is through the use of “smoke and mirrors”, e.g., at an opportune moment in a production, a visual effect is provided to draw an audience's attention to one position while simultaneously, replacing an undamaged item with a damaged one at another position. Also, creating an illusion of damage to scenery may be accomplished through high-resolution video/projection, where scenery may be changed via editing during production, and through other visual techniques such as Pepper's Ghost effects and via the use of Scrims.
Pepper's Ghost effects are illusionary techniques used in theatre and in some magic tricks. Using a pane of refractive media (glass) and special lighting techniques, scenery can seem to appear or disappear, or “morph” from one aspect into another. In either case, the viewer sees into a main room having a pane of glass, but not into an adjoining room, the image of which is reflected on the glass. To increase the effectiveness of the technique, the adjoining room may be painted black, with only light-colored scenery of interest provided in it. When light is cast on the scenery, it will reflect strongly in the glass. Using this technique scenery may be instantly lighted up in the adjoining room such that its reflection will cover up the previously seen scenery, located in the main room, in order to create a “morph” effect. The reflected object is usually physical set pieces and animated/non-animated figures with direct view and projected visual display devices.
A scrim is a thin screen, made out of a wide variety of materials, that when lit from the front appear opaque to the viewer, until a change in stage lighting (lighting from behind) causes the scrim material to appear to be almost fully transparent. Two-dimensional scenery, may be transformed via this technique from one aspect to another. For example, a two-dimensional brick wall, may be applied to one side of the scrim while located behind the scrim is another brick wall that is broken. As long as the scrim is lit from the front the viewer sees the solid brick wall applied to the scrim and, once it is lit from behind, the broken brick wall is then visible through the scrim.
However, none of the foregoing is realistic enough in an outdoor venue, due to light control, to provide the high entertainment value demanded by a sophisticated audience. Furthermore, these techniques only provide ways to show the before and after effects of scenery being transformed.